1854 in literature

Tolstoy during the Crimean War, c. 1854

• March 2 – An adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice into Bengali, Bhānumatī-chittavilās by Hara Chandra Ghosh, is staged;[1] also, Dinabandhu Mitra introduces Falstaff in Nabin Tapaswini.
• March 20 – The Boston Public Library opens to the public in the United States.
• April 1 – August 12 – Charles Dickens's novel Hard Times, is serialised in his magazine Household Words.[2] From September 2, it is followed in the magazine by Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, another social novel based in the Lancashire manufacturing district.
• July – Publication begins of Anthony Trollope's novel Barchester Towers (1857).
• November – Crimean War: Future novelist Leo Tolstoy arrives to take part as a defending soldier in the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55).[3] Off-duty he is reading Thackeray's novels in French translation.
• December 14 – Wilkie Collins's "The Lawyer's Story of a Stolen Letter", published as "The Fourth Poor Traveller" in The Seven Poor Travellers – the Household Words special Christmas number – is the first non-police detective fiction published in Britain.[4]
• unknown dates
  • John Rollin Ridge's The Life and Adventures of Joaquín Murieta, The Celebrated California Bandit is the first novel by a Native American in the United States (writing as "Yellow Bird") to be published.[5]
  • The Polyglotta Africana, an early classification of African languages based on field work under freed slaves in Freetown, Sierra Leone, is published by Sigismund Wilhelm Koelle.[6]

• March 11 – Jane Meade Welch, American journalist and historian (died 1931)
• March 13 – Kolachalam Srinivasa Rao, Indian dramatist (died 1919)
• March 14 – Alexandru Macedonski, Romanian poet, novelist and dramatist (died 1920)
• May 24 – Mona Caird, English novelist, essayist and feminist (died 1932)
• May 25 – Clara Louise Burnham, née Root, American novelist (died 1927)
• June 10
  • François, Vicomte de Curel, French dramatist (died 1928)
  • Sarah Grand, Irish author and women's rights advocate (died 1943)
• July 7 – W. C. Morrow, American writer, noted for his stories of horror and suspense. (died 1923)
• August 2 – Francis Marion Crawford, American novelist (died 1909)
• September 1 – Florence Trail, American educator and author (died 1944)
• October 16 – Oscar Wilde, Irish dramatist, poet and wit (died 1900)[11]
• October 20
  • Alphonse Allais, French humorist (died 1905)[12]
  • Arthur Rimbaud, French poet (died 1891)[13]
• unknown date - Eliza D. Keith, American educator, author, and journalist (died 1939)

Florence Trail (September 1, 1854 - April 21, 1944) was an

• January 5 – Gottschalk Eduard Guhrauer, German philologist and biographer (born 1809)
• February 4 – George Watterston, American librarian of Congress (born 1783)
• April 3 – John Wilson, Scottish poet and journalist (born 1785)
• April 7 – Pierre-François Tissot, French historian and memoirist (born 1768)
• April 16 – Julia Nyberg, Swedish poet (born 1784)
• April 24 – Gabriele Rossetti, Italian poet (born 1783)
• April 30 – James Montgomery, Scottish-born poet and hymnist (born 1771)
• July 20 – Caroline Anne Southey (Caroline Anne Bowles), English poet (born 1786)
• October 14 – Samuel Phillips, English journalist (born 1814)
• November 5 – Susan Edmonstone Ferrier, Scottish novelist (born 1782)
• November 25 – John Kitto, English Biblical commentator (born 1804)
• December 9 – Almeida Garrett, Portuguese poet, novelist and dramatist (born 1799)

• Chancellor's Gold Medal – Herbert John Reynolds[14]
• July – Opening of Anthony Trollope's novel Barchester Towers (1857).